Door fastener



Feb. 10, F953 5. 5, BATH 2,627,950

DOOR FASTENER Filed Jan. 24, 1947 2 SHEETS-SI-IEET l Gegzge 17.20171.

Patented Feb. 10, I953 DOOR FASTENER George E. Dath, Mokena, Ill., assignor to W. H. Miner, Inc, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application January 24, 1947, Serial No. 724,173

1 Claim. (Cl. 189-46) This invention relates to improvements in door fasteners, and more particularly to door fasteners for hinged doors of automobile trucks.

One object of the invention is to provide a door fastener of the lever actuated rotary bar type for a hinged door which is concealed within the door structure and is particularly designed in such a manner that it may be readily mounted within the door.

A more specific object of the invention is to .provide a door fastener for doors having spaced inner and outer walls, including a rotary operating bar having keeper engaging and members at opposite ends thereof and adapted to be accommodated between the inner and outer walls of the door, wherein one of the keeper engaging end members is in the form of a separate unit applied to the bar by being placed in position within the door before the bar is assembled with the door, the bar being insertable within the dcor from above, through an opening in the top of the door and being fixed to the keeper engaging end members by dropping the bar through the door and engaging the same with said end member.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claim hereinafter following.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a rear elevational view of the body of an automobile truck provided with a pair, of hinged doors, illustrating my improved door fastener in connection therewith. Figure 2 is a top plan view of the inner end portion of theright hand door shown in Figure 1, said view being on an enlarged scale is a rear elevational view of the structure shown at the upper end portion of Figure 4, looking from left to right in said figure, the inner wall of the door being omitted. Figure 6 is a view, similar to Figure 5, of the structure at the lower end portion of the door shown in Figure l. Figure 7 is a horizontal'sectional view, correspondin substantially to the line 'l'l of Figure 6;

In said drawings, It! indicates the rear wall of an automobile truck. The wall it] is provided with the usual door opening :I I, closed by hinged doors i2 and [3. The doors I2 and I3 are of well-known construction, the door [2 having its inner edges being provided with the usual bevel. The doors I? and I3 are of similar construction,

wi'ththe. exception that the door 12 is designed to carry the door fastener mechanism. The 'door l2 comprises outer and inner, laterally spaced walls M and I5, which are composed of metal sheets. At the top and bottom of the "door, the outer and inner walls are connected by 2-- bars 16-]6, the horizontal webs ll of these bars forming the top and bottom walls of the door. The upstanding web ill of the top'Z-bar and the depending web 19 of the bottom Z-bar are secured to the outer wall 14 of the door in the usual manner and the dependingfl-ange it at the rear side of the top Z-bar and theupstanding flange 2| at the rear side of the bottom Z-bar are secured to the top and bottom ends of the inner wall of the door. The door 82 also has theusual vertical walls at the inner and outer edges thereof which connect the inner and outer walls, the inner edge wall-, which is indicated by 22, only being shown in the drawings.

The door 12 also has intermediate braces 23 and 23 for strengtheningthe door "structure between the top' and bottom ends thereof, the braces 23-23 being the form of relatively light Z-bars extending lengthwise of the door from end to end and having their inner and outer flanges secured to the inner sides of the outer and inner walls It and I5 of thedoor. The door l3, as hereinbefore stated, is of substantially the same design as the door [2 and corresponds in construction to the structure thus far described in connection with the door l2.

,Between the upper and lower ends, adjacent the inner end of. the door l2, the outer wall it is inwardly oiiset to provide a horizontally extending pocket, 24, adapted to accommodate the operating handle lever of the door'fastener when said lever has been swung inwardly to force'the door to its closed position.

In carrying out my invention, I ,provide the horizontal'webs l'l-ll of the top and bottom ,Z-bars l6l6 with vertically alignedjbearing openings 25-425, which are'of the same size, and also provide the horizontal webs of the Z-bars 2323 and the top and bottom walls of the pocket 24 with bearing openings 25-28-26- 26, which are all of the same '.size and vertically aligned with the bearing openings 2525, but of smaller diameter than the latter, The vertical inner flange 20 0f the top Z-bar and the top end portion of the inner wall lb of the door ii are provided with an opening or out out portion 2"! for a purpose hereinafter pointed out. The upstanding inner flange 2| of the bottom Z-bar l6 and thebottom end portion oi-the wall l5 are provided with a similar .opening or cut out portion 28, and the web IT of the lower Z-bar has a slot 29 therethrough which extends from the opening 28 to the bearing opening 25 of the lower Z-bar. I

My improved door fastener proper comprises broadly a tubular operating bar A, keeper en: gaging end members B and C- at the lower and upper ends of timber A, a bearing-sleeve D at 3 the upper end oi the bar, an operating handle lever E for rotating the bar, and top and bottom keepers FF.

The operating bar A is in the form of an elongated tube of circular cross section mounted between the outer and inner walls I4 and 15 of the door and extending through the openings 26262626 of the Z-bars 23-43 and the top and bottom walls of the pocket 26. The tubular bar A terminates short of the top and bottom walls of the door.

The lower keeper engaging end member B comprises a hollow, cylindrical, sleevelike cap, closed at its bottom end by a transverse wall 30. The lower end of the. tubular bar A is telescoped within the opening of the cap B and closely fits said opening. Upstanding from the bottom wall 30 of the caplike member B is a diametrically disposed rib 3!, which is enga ed within diametrically opposite slots 32-42 at the lower end of the bar A to lock the end member to the bar for rotation in unison therewith. The lower end of the sleevelike cap of the end member 13 provides a bearing portion 33, which is journaled in the bearing opening 25 of the bottom Z-bar it. mediately above the bearing portion 33, the member B has an annular, outstanding flange 34, which rests on top of the web I? of the bottom Z-bar l6. Depending from the lower end of the member 13 is an eccentric crank pin 35 extending beyond the bottom of the door, adapted to cooperate with the lower keeper F.

The upper keeper engaging end member C comprises a cylindrical shank portion 38 telescoped within the upper end of the tubular bar A, and an upstanding, eccentric crank pin 3'! on said shank projecting beyond the upper end of the door and engageable with the top keeper F.

The bearing sleeve D is in the form of a cylindrical collar surrounding the upper end of the bar A and having a bearing portion 38 at its upper end journaled in the bearing opening 25 of the web I! of the top Z.-bar [6. Immediately below the bearing portion 38, the sleeve D has an outstanding, annular flange I38 which abuts the underneath side of the web I! of the upper Z-bar H5. The sleeve D and the upper keeper engaging end member C are locked to'the tubular bar A by a bolt 39 extending through openings in the lower end of the sleeve, the upper end of the bar A, and the shank 36 of the end member C.

The lever E is of the usual design and preferably is welded to the bar A. As shown in Figures 1 and 4, the lever is located on that portion oi the bar which extends through the pocket 24 and swings into said pocket when the door 12 is closed by the fastener.

The top and bottom keepers F-F, which are located in the top and bottom walls of the door opening, above and below the door 12, are of the well-known cajm slot type, having the usual outwardly opening, diagonally disposed cam slots 48-40 with which the crank pins of the keeper engaging end members operate to cam the door open or closed.

In assembling my improved door fastener with the door [2-, the bearing sleeve D and the lower keeper engaging end member B are first placed within the door and the bearing portions thereof seated in the bearing openings 2525 of the top and bottom Z-bars Iii-l 6, the sleeve D being entered through the, opening 21 at the top end of the inner side and the end member 13 being entered through the opening 28 at the bottom end of the inner side of the door, the slot 29, which.

iii)

leads from the opening 28 to the bearing opening 25 of the lower Z-bar, providing a passageway for the crank pin 35 of the member B. The operating bar A, with the operating handle lever absent, is then inserted between the outer and inner walls of the door 12 from above by passing the same through the sleeve D and the openings 262E2626 of the Z-bars 2323 and top and bottom walls of the pocket 24, and dropping the same so as to telescope within the lower keeper engaging member B, the bar being turned so that the slots 3232 at the lower end of the same are engaged over the rib 3| of said end member. The upper keeper engaging member C is then applied to the upper end of the tubular bar A by telescoping the shank 36 thereof within the bar. The member 0 and the sleeve D are then locked to the bar A by the bolt 3.). After the parts have been thus assembled, the operating handle lever E is welded in place on the bar A.

The operation of my improved door fastener is well known to those skilled in this art, and therefore needs no detailed description, the operating bar being rotatable in reverse directions by the operating handle lever to cam the door open and shut by camming engagement of the eccentric crank pin at the top and bottom ends of the bar within the slots of the top and bottom keepers.

1. claim:

In a hinged door structure, the combination with door member having laterally spaced inner and outer vertical walls connected by horizontal top and bottom waiis, one of said vertical walls having an opening therethrough at the bottom end thereof communicating with the interior of said door, said bottom wall having a circular bearing opening therethrough and a radially outwardly extending slot communicating with said bearing opening; of a keeper engaging member having a depending cylindrical bearing port-ion journaled in the bearing opening of said bottom wall, said bearing portion having an annular flange at the upper end thereof supported on said bottom wall; an eccentric keeper engaging crank pin depending from said bearing portion, said crank pin being of a diameter to pass freely in lateral direction through said slot of the bearing opening in said bottom wall of the door, said crank pin projecting outwardly beyond said bottom wall, said keeper engaging member having an upstanding sleeve portion on said bearing portion thereof integral therewith, said keeper engaging member being laterally insertable through said opening in the vertical wall of the door; a tubular operating bar within said door having its bottom end telescoped within said sleeve portion; and interlocking means on said bar and sleeve for locking the keeper engaging member to the bar for rotation therewith.

GEORGE E. BATH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 956,811 Leadbeater May 3, 1910 1,832,592 Sweeley et al Nov. 17, 1931 1,990,990 Hathorn Feb. 12, 1935 2,030,677 Avels Feb. 11, 1936 2,171,361 Gits et al Aug. 29, 1939 2,297,007 Lounsbury Sept. 29, 1942 2,380,302 Geiger July 10, 1945 2,568,058 Dath Sept. 18.19.51 

